bdnews24.com, Dhaka Adviser Dr CS Karim has argued strongly for continued state subsidies for Bangladesh’s “resilient” farmers, recounting how they battled and won, in the wake of successive disasters in 2007. “The state has to support them,” he told diplomats, donors and editors Monday, in a presentation titled ‘A saga of resilience’. “The government, with ... Read more
Month: December 2008
Remittances increase by 18pc due to Eid-ul-Azha last month
Staff Correspondent The flow of remittances increased by over 18 per cent in the month of November over the previous month due to the Eid-ul-Azha festival, officials said. The remittances from Bang-ladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated to be S$ 767.35 million in November this year. In October the remittances stood at $646.51 million, according ... Read more
Expatriates see evil design to keep them out of Rajuk plots
Taib Ahmed Bangladeshi expatriates willing to apply for the Rajuk plots alleged that the application process was deliberately made cumbersome to keep them out of the lottery. Hundreds of Bangladeshi expatriates now in Dhaka and intending to apply for plots in Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha’s Uttara and Purbachal projects were seen flocking to the Rajuk’s member ... Read more
Rajuk relaxes provision for applying for plots
Staff Correspondent Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha on Monday finally relaxed the provision for submitting the affidavit using Tk 150 non-judicial stamps to apply for the plots in its projects at Uttara and Purbachal in Dhaka. The applicants for the Uttara and Purbachal plots will now pay Tk 150 court fees instead of non-judicial stamps for their ... Read more
Muhith, Saifur fight battle royale in Sylhet
Zaman Monir . Sylhet Ten heavyweight candidates of rival Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party are in the race for 11 out of 19 electoral constituencies in Sylhet division in the forthcoming parliamentary polls set for December 29. Among them, 7 candidates are contesting the polls on Awami League’s tickets and 3 have been nominated ... Read more
Saddam’s lawyer for Bush attacker
Farewell Iraq tour marred by shoe assault Ap, Afp, Baghdad/ Washington An Iraqi official says a reporter who threw his shoes at President Bush is being held for questioning by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s guards and is being tested for alcohol and drugs. The official tells The Associated Press that Muntadar al-Zeidi is being interrogated ... Read more
Opposition’s Abhisit new Thai PM
Ap, Bangkok Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva was chosen as Thailand’s prime minister yesterday in an effort to end months of political turmoil, but the move unleashed new protests by supporters of the previous government who hurled rocks at lawmakers. Abhisit, 44, one of the world’s youngest heads of government gathered 235 votes against 198 by ... Read more
2008: Asia’s year for being vulnerable
Agence France-Presse . Hong Kong From the devastating China earthquake and Myanmar cyclone to the terror attacks in Mumbai and the freefall on the stock markets, 2008 was a year that exposed Asia’s vulnerability. A region hailed for its booming economies, led by China and India, and its enormous potential suddenly found itself fending off ... Read more
95 journalists killed doing their job in 2008: report
Agence France-Presse . Geneva Nearly 100 journalists were killed doing their job during 2008, a slight fall from the previous year due to security improvements in Iraq, a press rights group said Monday. The Geneva-based Press Emblem Campaign said in its annual report that 95 journalists were killed in 32 different countries in the past ... Read more
Arab world hails shoe attack as Bush’s farewell gift
Afp, Baghdad Iraq faced mounting calls yesterday to release the journalist who hurled his shoes at George W Bush, an action branded shameful by the government but hailed by many in the Arab world as an ideal parting gift to the unpopular US president. Colleagues of Muntazer al-Zaidi, who works for independent Iraqi television station ... Read more
Bush shoe attacker ‘detested America’
Agence France-Presse (Baghdad): The Iraqi journalist who caused a furore when he hurled his shoes at visiting US President George W Bush “detested America” and had been plotting such an attack for months, colleagues said on Monday. Muntazer al-Zaidi, 28, was being hailed as a hero by some after his action against the US President ... Read more
Japan cracking US pop culture hegemony
GLOBAL BESTSELLER: Suzue Miuchi (l.) writes one of Japan’s longest-running girls’ manga. Andy Nelson/The Christian Science Monitor Japan is quietly emerging as a global trendsetter in pop culture, as well as in green technology and environmental practices. By Amelia Newcomb | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor TOKYO – Just two decades ago, Japan’s ... Read more
Spider as big as a plate among scores of new species found in Greater Mekong
A spider as big as a dinner plate has been found living in one of the world’s last scientifically unexplored regions. The Greater Mekong, which is made up of 600,000 square kilometres of wetlands and rainforest along the Mekong River in Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam and China, is also home to striped rabbits, bright ... Read more
Fight within alliances for at least 22 seats
Total candidates 1,538; ballot paper printing starts in full swing, Noakhali-1 polls on Jan 12 Staff Correspondent Candidates of the grand alliance’s Awami League and Jatiya Party are set to fight each other in at least 11 constituencies, shows the final list of runners published by the Election Commission (EC) yesterday. The seats are in ... Read more
AL, BNP bank on freshers in Dhaka
Conviction, graft charges herald the change of guards Rakib Hasnet Suman and Hasan Jahid Tusher The two electoral alliances led by the Awami League (AL) and the BNP have for the first time picked a number of fresh less known persons as their candidates for city constituencies in the upcoming parliamentary elections. The two alliances ... Read more
Khaleda asks party men to guard against polls rigging
Shahidul Islam Chowdhury . Kushtia Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia on Sunday called for a consensus among all political parties to work together for making the country strong and prosperous. She asked her party activists to remain alert on December 29, the national polling day, so that none could rig the polls. ‘We will ... Read more
Hasina calls on people to cast vote for AL-led alliance
Staff Correspondent The Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, on Sunday called on the people to cast their vote for the Awami League-led alliance candidates in the ninth parliamentary polls to ensure their rights for food and franchise, food security, reduction in essential goods prices and happy and prosperous life for them. ‘The national elections of ... Read more
Azam Chy applies to withdraw case against Hasina
Staff Reporter In a surprise move, business tycoon Azam Jahangir Chowdhury yesterday prayed for withdrawing his Tk 3 crore extortion case against Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina and said he had not directly sued anyone. The Prime Bank chairman and top businessman, Azam, said to reporters at his Gulshan office, “I did not directly ... Read more
Govt on last mile on road to polls: Hossain Zillur
Staff Correspondent The commerce and education adviser, Hossain Zillur Rahman, on Sunday said the government was traversing the last mile on road to the national polls scheduled for December 29. ‘We are now on the last mile on the highway to the elections… Best wishes to all the candidates contesting the polls,’ Zillur said as ... Read more
Mohiuddin resumes office
Tushar Hayat . Chittagong The Chittagong mayor, ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, arrested by the joint forces on March 7, 2007 and released on bail on October 28 last, resumed office on Sunday. Ward commissioners, officials and employees of the city corporation received the mayor with bouquet when he reached the office in the morning after one ... Read more